Apparatus For Dispensing Playing Cards

ABSTRACT

This invention provides a playing card apparatus for holding and dispensing a plurality of playing cards. The apparatus may be a card shoe or an automated shuffler. It has a delivery aperture at a dispensing end for dispensing playing cards individually, the dispensing end having a platform that extends from the delivery aperture for supporting cards being manually removed, the platform being shaped and being of sufficient height to allow a card dealer to insert their thumb or finger below a corner of the card as the card is dispensed. This allows the dealer to grip and pull the card away substantially without flexing the card at all and thereby avoiding risk of disclosing the front face of the card while dispensing the card for dealing it. The cards are held and dispensed in portrait orientation, with a short edge of the card leading. The apparatus enables the storage and delivery of playing cards in a highly efficient continuous and secret manner.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to apparatus for holding and dispensingplaying cards for dealing out the playing cards. The dealing devices maybe such as are commonly known as card shoes or dealer's shoes, oroccasionally as card sabots. The apparatus may also be a playing cardshuffler.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Card shoes, or dealer's shoes or sabots, are used, primarily in casinoestablishments, for the delivery of playing cards in cards games such asBlackjack and Punto Banco. The conventional card shoe is normally acontainer that can hold multiple decks of cards and which allows thecards to be dispensed one by one through a delivery aperture (or tongue)at the front end from where the cards can be pulled for use in casinocard games used daily in casinos across the globe. The design andmaterial used in construction hardly vary. The standard version isnormally black in colour, made from a Perspex resin which offers a fairdegree of durability and a smooth frictionless surface. The playingcards are placed within the shoe as a block substantially on edge but ina landscape orientation. The shoe has a dispensing aperture that enableseach card to be pulled from the shoe by one or more fingers. An exampleof a prior art manual card shoe is shown in US patent applicationUS2010/0013152.

The generic features of the conventional manual card shoe and its useare illustrated in FIGS. 1, 3 and 16 to 19 of the drawings herein. Themanual card shoe 1 comprises an elongate box with a rear wall 2,elongate sidewalls 3, front wall 5 and a floor 6. The box forms achamber 7 for holding the cards, often with an open-top for insertion ofthe decks of cards. The floor 6 of the chamber slopes downwardly towardsthe dispensing delivery aperture 8 at the front. At the front end of thecard shoe 1 the floor 6 of the shoe is extended forwardly to projectbeyond the side walls 4, front wall 5 and delivery aperture 8 of theshoe and there forms a thin flat ledge 9 over which each card beingdispensed slides as it is taken by the dealer. The front wall 5 of theshoe 1 is inclined downwardly in the forward direction and the gapbetween the lower edge of the front wall 5 and the floor 6 of the shoedefines the delivery aperture 8. An upwards arched cut-out 10 formed inthe front wall 5 contiguous with the delivery aperture 8 provides accessfor the dealers fingers to drag the card out though the deliveryaperture 8.

Commonly a wedge 4 is provided in the chamber 2 to acts as an adjustablebackstop/rest for the rearmost card of the decks in the shoe and whichcan be re-positioned forwardly as the stored decks are dealt anddiminish in size. The cards are held in the shoe resting on one of theirlong edges L so that they are dispensed from the shoe in a ‘landscape’orientation, ie where the long edge L of each card emerges first andthey must be flexed upwardly at one end/short edge S to be gripped todeal them. The conventional manual card shoe 1 does not facilitatesecure covert dealing since the cards are necessarily flexed upwardly asthey are dealt.

The conventional manual card shoes are generally used for card games inwhich the cards are dealt face up and visible immediately to theplayer/s such as in Blackjack or Punto Banco (modern casino version ofBaccarat) and despite claims made by applicants in earlier patentapplications, casinos do not generally use manual card shoes for cardsgames such as Poker or Texas Hold'em. Poker and its variations such asTexas Hold'em are only played using a single deck of cards which can beeasily handled by a human hand whereas Blackjack and Punto Banco (thetwo most popular casino card games) use multiple decks of cards, in mostcases four decks or more which cannot be practicably held in a humanhand or be distributed from such a configuration to the player/s in asecure and covert/secret manner.

The more recent prior art relating to card shoes focuses predominatelyon assisting the operator, using the aid of modern electronics, to readthe card/s whilst in the shoe or when a card exits the shoe or relatesto use in devices that automatically shuffle the playing cards or both.Mostly these are aimed at translating the information about the card/sto a remote display screen or for use in automatic card shufflingmachines. Like manual card shoes these automatic card shuffling machinesare largely used in Blackjack or variations of Blackjack to ensure aconstant game without the need to pause the game for the dealer toshuffle the cards. Automatic shuffling machine's attraction to thecasino industry is the elimination of the pause every time the dealerhas to shuffle the cards. Far more hands of the game can be dealtwithout the need to reshuffle every twenty minutes or so.

Automatic shuffling machines require high maintenance as dust and fibresfrom the table cloth interfere with their workings rendering theminoperable on a regular basis. Casinos that use automatic shufflingmachines retain manual card shoes in the event of these breakdowns.Automatic shuffling machines primary function and key selling pointconcerns their ability to mimic the actions of a conventional manualcard shoe in every way, without the need to shuffle the cards. Automaticshuffling machines are not commercially viable when dealing with gamesthat require only one deck of playing cards, like Poker and itsvariants, which is why they are not used on these games; the dealer caneasily shuffle one deck of cards.

There is a variation of Blackjack offered in casinos known as “DoubleDeck Blackjack” that uses two decks of playing cards. This game is theonly variation of Blackjack (21) offered in casinos where the cards aredealt face down to the player. This game is aimed at players who prefera pontoon style variation of blackjack. In this game no card shoe isused because the conventional “landscape” playing card shoe is designedfor games that require the cards to be laid face up; and a conventionalcard shoe is thus of no use in this variation. This results in thedealer having to continually hold the deck of cards in their left handthroughout the game, producing a slower, less secure game, because thedealer has only one hand free to for chips manipulation, to make payoutsand to collect lost bets.

It is amongst objects of the present invention to provide a playing cardshoe that overcomes the above-described drawbacks of the prior art andenables playing cards to be dealt continuously face down by an operatorin a covert (secret) but efficient manner. The playing card shoe maynevertheless be used for face up dealing too if desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided aplaying card shoe for holding and dispensing a plurality of playingcards, the shoe having a delivery aperture at a dispensing end fordispensing playing cards individually, the dispensing end having aplatform that extends from the delivery aperture for supporting cardsbeing manually removed, the platform as viewed in plan from above beingrounded and/or with truncated corners and being of a height sufficientto allow a card dealer to insert their thumb or finger below a corner ofthe card as the card is dispensed. This allows the dealer to grip andpull the card away substantially without flexing the card at all andthereby avoiding risk of disclosing the front face of the card whiledispensing the card for dealing it.

The shoe is suitably mounted in use on the top of a playing surface suchas a card table top onto which device dispenses cards and the height ofthe platform is the height from the table top.

The cards are preferably held and dispensed in portrait orientation,with one of the short edges of the playing card emerging from thedelivery aperture first as the card is dispensed. Accordingly theproportions of the shoe's chamber—and most especially the width of theshoe at the delivery aperture—suitably correspond substantially to thewidth of the playing cards not their length.

The card shoe of the present invention enables the storage and deliveryof playing cards in a highly efficient continuous and secret manner. Itis ideally suited for card games that require the playing cards toremain unseen by others except the player for whom the cards areintended. Nevertheless the card shoe is versatile and can also be usedfor card games where the cards are revealed immediately such asBlackjack and Punto Banco, if desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be moreparticularly described, by way of example only, with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an elevated frontal view of a conventional manual shoe of theprior art.

FIG. 2 is an elevated slightly off centre frontal view of a manual cardshoe of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a close up front end view of the FIG. 1 prior art conventionalcard shoe.

FIG. 4 is a close up front end view of the card shoe of the FIG. 1embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view of the first preferred embodiment viewed from the leftperspective.

FIG. 6 is a frontal perspective end view of the first preferredembodiment viewed from the right.

FIG. 7 is a near overhead view of the first preferred embodiment ofshoe.

FIG. 8 is an elevated frontal view of the first preferred embodiment ofshoe.

FIG. 9 is an elevated perspective view of the first preferred embodimentof shoe viewed from the left side.

FIG. 10 is an elevated perspective view of the first preferredembodiment of shoe viewed from the right side.

FIG. 11 is an elevated perspective view of the first preferredembodiment of shoe viewed from behind.

FIG. 12 shows the initial drawing of a card from the first preferredembodiment of shoe.

FIG. 13 shows the sequence following on from FIG. 12 when drawing a cardfrom the shoe.

FIG. 14 shows the next stage in the sequence from FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 shows the final dealing stage, of placing the card face down ona playing surface.

FIG. 16 shows the prior art method of dealing, showing the initialdrawing of a card from the FIG. 1 prior art card shoe.

FIG. 17 is the second stage (from FIG. 16) where the playing card facefirst touches the playing surface as it exits the shoe.

FIG. 18 illustrates an operator dragging the card in a toward andupwards motion in preparation to be transferred to the dealing hand.

FIG. 19 illustrates the transfer of the card from the pulling hand tothe dealing hand to be placed face up on the playing surface.

FIG. 20 illustrates a second embodiment of the present invention wherethe card shoe is a generic style of electronic or automatic cardshuffler adapted for dealing playing cards face up or face down.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 4 to 15, the first preferred embodiment of theinvention is a manual card shoe 11 that is substantially the same as theprior art manual card shoe 1 of FIGS. 1, 3 and 16 to 19 but has a uniquedispensing end arrangement. The reference numerals in FIGS. 2 and 4 to15 that are the same as in FIGS. 1, 3 and 16 to 19 are used to designatethe same or similar parts throughout the several views.

The manual card shoe 11 comprises an elongate box with a rear wall 2,elongate sidewalls 4, front wall 5 and a floor 6. The box forms achamber 7 for holding the cards with an open-top for insertion of thedecks of cards. The floor 6 of the chamber 7 is overall higher than thatin the prior art and slopes downwardly towards the delivery aperture 8at the front. At the front end of the card shoe 11 the floor 6 of theshoe is extended forwardly to project beyond the side walls 4, frontwall 5 and delivery aperture 8 of the shoe and there forms a tallplatform 12 over which each card being dispensed slides as it is takenby the dealer.

As in the conventional shoe 1, in this shoe 11 the front wall 5 of theshoe 11 is inclined downwardly in the forward direction and the gapbetween the lower edge of the front wall 5 and the floor 6 of the shoedefines the delivery aperture 8. An upwards arched cut-out 10 formed inthe front wall 5 contiguous with the delivery aperture 8 provides accessfor the dealers fingers to drag the card out though the deliveryaperture 8. A wedge 4 is provided in the chamber 2 to acts as anadjustable backstop/rest for the rearmost card of the decks in the shoeand which can be re-positioned forwardly as the stored decks are dealtand diminish in size. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the card shoe 11 has acapacity of 250 cards. The manual card shoe 10 is suitably at least 34cm in length for that but might be less or more in length to accommodateless or more cards.

The playing cards in this shoe 11 are, unlike those in the prior artshoe 1, not held in the shoe 11 resting on one of their long edges L andare not dispensed from the shoe in a ‘landscape’ orientation. The manualcard shoe 11 of the FIG. 2 preferred embodiment is narrower and tallerthan the prior art card shoe of FIG. 1. It is uniquely adapted to holdand dispense the playing cards in a portrait configuration, ie with oneof the two short edges S of the playing card lowermost and emergingfirst through the dispensing aperture 8. Furthermore the tall platform12 of the card shoe 11 of the preferred embodiment is of the order of atleast 1 cm in height above the bottom/underside of the shoe 11 andpreferably is 1.5 cm to 2.5 cm in height. It provides a correspondingheight stand-off from the playing surface of the card gaming table onwhich the card shoe 11 stands for the card being dispensed. The tallplatform 12 is substantially semi-circular or more particularly it is apartial ellipse or flattened semi circle as viewed in plan from aboveand the rim/perimeter 13 of the platform 12 is radiused/rounded orchamfered in profile too.

The shape and height of the platform 12 enables cards to be removed in afavourable position for a hand to grasp the card without having tosubstantially tilt or flex it upwardly, and to be able to directly layit face down on the card table. The tall, curved shape and radiusededged platform 12 enables the dealer to comfortably insert their thumbor a finger between the table top and the underside of the card beingdispensed at a corner of the card in order to grip the card withoutneeding to tilt or flex the card upwardly as will be further describedshortly below with respect to FIGS. 12 to 15.

The prior art shoe of FIG. 1 and FIGS. 16, 17 18 and 19 is incapable ofemulating this function as demonstrated in FIGS. 16 to 19. The correctway to pull a card from the conventional manual “landscape” shoe 1 isdemonstrated in sequence in FIGS. 16 to 19. In FIG. 16 the dealer placestwo or three fingers over the card where a minimal amount of pressure isexerted to drag the card in a downward motion out of the deliveryaperture 8 and over the thin flat ledge 9. FIG. 17 illustrates thefollowing action in this sequence wherein when the card comes intocontact with the card gaming table surface or layout the uppermost partof the card is warped upwards. With part of the card lifted the dealer'sthumb (not seen) is positioned under the upper right corner. FIG. 18illustrates the next step in the sequence where the card has left theshoe 1 with the lower left corner of the card pressed against the layoutwith the dealer's fingers supporting the upper right corner of the card,the lower right corner is raised free of the layout. FIG. 19 shows thefinal step of the sequence where the dealer's right hand grasps thelower right corner of the card ready to lay the card face up on thelayout.

Turning back to the invention, FIGS. 12 to 15, show the dispensingsequence for the card shoe 11 of the present invention. Again thedealer's hand grasps the lead card with two or three fingers but thistime includes the dealer's thumb under the lower left corner of thecard. FIG. 13 illustrates the next step in the sequence where the cardis close to exiting the shoe 11. FIG. 14 illustrates the card clear ofthe shoe 11 with the dealer's three fingers resting on the back of thecard and the thumb (not seen) supporting the card from underneathensuring the card remains unseen. FIG. 15 shows the transfer from thedealer's left hand to the right hand ready to be laid face down on thetable. The difference between the two sequences should be readilyapparent to the reader, since at no time in FIG. 12, 13, 14 or 15 is thecard revealed or visible to any party, including the dealer.Nevertheless, the shoe 11 is versatile and should the card game requirethe cards to be visible as in Blackjack etc, the dealer's left hand inFIG. 14 could simply lift the card upwards towards the dealer with theright hand grasping the lower right corner enabling the dealer to mimicFIG. 19 and reveal the card straightaway.

Turning to FIG. 20, this illustrates a second embodiment of the presentinvention where the card holding and dispensing apparatus is not amanual card shoe but instead a generic style electronic or automaticcard shuffler 14 adapted for dealing playing cards face up or face down.The dispensing aperture 15 of the card shuffler 14 has the sameround-edged part-ellipsoidal raised dispensing platform 12 integral toor attached to its card dispensing aperture 8 so that each card can betaken and dealt covertly, without risk of showing the front face of thecard. Suitably the dispensing aperture is adapted to dispense the cardsin portrait orientation just as in the first embodiment.

Although described and illustrated herein with respect to two preferredembodiments, numerous alternative variants and embodiments areconceivable within the scope of the present invention as defined by theclaims hereinafter.

1. A playing card apparatus for holding and dispensing a plurality ofplaying cards, the shoe having a delivery aperture at a dispensing endfor dispensing playing cards individually, the dispensing end having aplatform that extends from the delivery aperture for supporting cardsbeing manually removed, the platform being shaped and being ofsufficient height to allow a card dealer to insert their thumb or fingerbelow a corner of the card as the card is dispensed.
 2. A playing cardholding and dispensing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein theapparatus is a manual card shoe.
 3. A playing card holding anddispensing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is acard shuffler.
 4. A playing card holding and dispensing apparatus asclaimed in any preceding claim wherein the platform is shaped rounded asviewed in plan from above.
 5. A playing card holding and dispensingapparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the rounded platform is:substantially semi-circular; or a flattened semicircle or substantiallya partial ellipse as viewed in plan from above.
 6. A playing cardholding and dispensing apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim,wherein the platform has at least one fore-shortened or truncatedcorner.
 7. A playing card holding and dispensing apparatus as claimed inany preceding claim, wherein the platform has a rim/perimeter that isradiussed/rounded or chamfered in profile.
 8. A playing card holding anddispensing apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim housing aplurality of playing cards, the playing cards being held and dispensedin portrait orientation, with one of the short edges of the playing cardbeing oriented to emerge from the delivery aperture first as the card isdispensed.
 9. A playing card holding and dispensing apparatus as claimedin claim 8 wherein the width of the shoe at the delivery aperturecorresponds substantially to the width of the playing cards not theirlength.
 10. A playing card holding and dispensing apparatus as claimedin any preceding claim in combination with a playing surface onto whichthe apparatus dispenses cards, wherein the apparatus is mounted in useon the top of the playing surface and the height of the platform is theheight of the platform's support surface from the playing surface.
 11. Aplaying card holding and dispensing apparatus as claimed in claim 10,wherein the playing surface is the playing surface of a card gamingtable.